Benefit of Educational Options Are Clear

Published in 12/20/2005

Opponents of school choice regularly assert that choice does nothing to help students who get to choose and harms students who remain in traditional public schools.

The evidence on the effects of school choice is consistently positive. While we don't know everything there is to know and can always learn more, there is no reasonable way to read the evidence to suggest that choice harms those who get to choose or those who remain in traditional public schools.

Clive Belfield and Henry Levin, both researchers at Columbia University's Teachers College, are known for their skepticism about school choice. However, after reviewing more than 200 analyses, they conclude that "a sizable majority of these studies report beneficial effects of competition across all outcomes . . .. The above evidence shows reasonably consistent evidence of a link between competition (choice) and education quality."

This article, written by Jay Greene, appeared in the December 15th, 2005 publication of The Arizona Republic.